Tough Girls Don't Cry
by iheartTeddybears
Summary: Oneshot of CloudxLightning: you don't know how much you love someone until you travel through worlds to get them back...


****I'm a HUGE cloti (cloudxtifa) fan, but I just couldn't resist this one! Its** actually just a snippet of an idea of a story that I got before of Cloud and Lightning, turned into a oneshot. Lemme know if ya'll like it! Read and enjoy!**

* * *

><p>He looked at her with an open-hearted smile as he approached.<p>

"Sis," he said, holding his hand out to her. She looked up at him and returned a meek smile and took his hand. She noticed Serah dancing with Hope towards their left as he led her towards the center of the room surrounded by others. He placed his hands modestly on her waist as she placed hers on his shoulders and the two of them slowly swayed to the melody. "Thank you for your blessing," he told her.

She hardly smiled and replied, "Serah's my sister…I'd do anything to see her happy…even if that means giving my blessing to her and an idiot like you." He chuckled to himself and nodded as if in agreement. Lightning glanced over to see a joyful Serah now dancing with one of the young children from their village.

"Speaking of happy…" Snow suddenly started. "Don't you think it's time you found some happiness…?" His usual goofy smile was replaced with a caring and earnest one.

"What do you mean? I _am_ happy…"

"You say it without any hesitation, and yet, I can tell it's not true."

"Seeing the two of you safe and happy is enough for me," she responded, her gaze fixed elsewhere. "You two are all I have left…"

"You also have me."

" FINALLY here…" Snow said to someone behind her. She recognized the voice but doubted - almost feared - such a possibility. Then, she turned around to see who it was that such a tantalizing voice belonged to.

"Sorry," Cloud apologized, taking his hand out of his pocket, revealing a name card that everybody at the wedding reception was required to have, clipped between his fingers. "But Gadot got in my way." He flicked the card at Snow who caught it in time before it hit his face. "You should probably check up on him. He's in the men's lavatory."

"You just had to make a scene, huh," and without another word, Snow left in the direction of the washrooms. Cloud turned his attention to Lightning, who stared at him dressed in an all-black, three-piece suit with disbelief and a shock that rarely took over. He looked back at her with a timid yet valiant composure and reached a hand out.

"Dance with me?" His casual gesture further baffled her. She was hesitant, yet her body lusted for his touch. She felt the fine silk of his black gloves against her fingertips desirable as he reeled her towards him till they were face to face. An ecstatic sensation travelled through her nerves when he boldly placed his hand on her waist, pressing his slim yet firm body against hers. The smell of his cologne filled her senses and a warmth spread throughout her body from below. So many times she was drowned by the pleasure of his touch that her legs strained to keep her standing, but his hold on her was steady and unwavering. With her hand over the back of his shoulders, she felt the indecisiveness and uncertainty that he carried with him no longer there. She tried to not look up as the sight of him would surely overwhelm her.

"How…" she suddenly paused, feeling her tongue quiver. "How is it that you're here..?" she was finally able to ask, without her entire body collapsing.

"Aren't you more curious to know _why_ I'm here?" he casually responded.

She took a breath and then asked, "Wh-…why're you here…?"

"You look beautiful today," he told her to her ear.

"You didn't answer my question…" Her voice was calm now.

"You told Snow…that you only had him and your sister to care about…I'm here to find out if that's really true." Her hold on him tightened and words escaped her, but he continued, "I'm sorry…for not telling you about me and Tifa. And-"

With her regained strength, she pulled back, looking him in the face for the first time. "Stop," she cut him off. "We're from completely different existences! What you're here for…It's not possible!" she finished before stopping and feeling her words choke in her throat. Never had she felt so insecure than she did now. "So save your apologies!" She broke her grasp from his and brought her hand over her mouth as she ran out the ballroom.

"Lightning!" he called out to her, coming out of the lobby of the hotel. He remained still and listened around him, hearing the sound of a hoof beating against sand. He ran back inside the building and exited out the back to where the beach was. The night consumed everything in the distance with the howl of the waves and the flutter of the wind drowning any other sound. He walked down the steps till he stood on sand, unbuttoning his jacket. "Dammit," he quietly said to himself, running his hand over his face and then through his blonde, spiked hair. Preparing to return back inside, he noticed a sudden shine at the far end of the beach towards his left. The glow was a vibrant pink that suddenly vanished, and he immediately recognized it. "Odin…"

She felt the rough sand prickle her skin as she sat on the beach, looking out at the crystallized Cocoon, shining from the moonlight. She could hear footsteps approaching her but she didn't turn to see who it was. She wasn't crying – not anymore – but the shedding of tears was evident.

"I don't cry," she suddenly said, once the figure was close enough. She kept her eyes set on the lost world afar, almost entranced by its crystal beauty. "Even when my parents died…and that time when I thought I lost Serah …I didn't shed a tear. I held it together…for the others, but mostly for myself…Crying…it's foreign to me…Like so many other emotions…it makes people look weak. And…I just can't afford to expose myself like that. But with you…" She glanced up at Cloud, standing next to her. "I want to…" Her body jumped when the soft fabric of his jacket cloaked over her shoulders, and he sat down on the sand next to her. He remained quiet, finally able to admire the world she told him of.

"It's pretty," his soothing voice spoke that it made her body jitter. She pulled on his jacket, fastening it tighter over her.

"I found a letter…not long when I returned," she said. "…It was from Tifa." She glanced at him, but he had no reaction. He continued gazing at the once-inhabited planet. "She apologized and explained everything…about the two of you."

"I know," he finally responded, turning to her. "But that's Tifa…You still need to hear it from me. _I_ still need to hear myself say it." He took off one of his gloves and reached his hand up to her face and wiped away the tear that she didn't even notice escape her. She felt a burning flame inside her ignite from his touch – the same fiery desire from that night. "Lightning…I'm so sorry for not telling you."

"It…It doesn't matter…We can't just come into different worlds like this," she said, looking away and reluctantly cutting herself from the affection of his fingertips. "If it was meant to be…we would've coexisted in just _one_ world… either here or Edge. But not like this, not-"

"Before you go on about how everything's not right and how me coming here doesn't change anything, at least let me finally tell you how _I_ feel." Lightning remained soundless, caught off guard by this new persistence in him. He paused for a moment, appearing to reorder his thoughts. "…I don't hate myself when I'm with you," he said. "Aerith…I cared a lot about her and that was it. All the feelings I had, they weren't mine. Yet it still took me years to forgive myself for letting her die…And Tifa…I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror without feeling disgusted. I screwed up everything with her...Then, there were those few times I spent with you...and that night...It was different. I stopped feeling sorry for myself…because I love you…and I _can't_ lose you."

A small smile formed over Lightning as she gently closed her eyes to let the last two tears fall. And she felt his fingers catch them before they left her chin.

"I need to stop making you cry," he told her, wiping away the last tear. She took his hand before he could move it away from her face and gently pressed it against her cheek. His skin against hers was fulfilling and rejuvenating. Her body felt secured against his. He leaned closer to her till his forehead touched hers, his golden spikes brushing over her eyes that slowly shut. She felt his steady breath hit her skin and his heart race with hers. And with her burning lips yearning to touch the tenderness of his, she softly told him, "Cloud…you were right…I have you..."


End file.
